Travel tips for Albuquerque and Santa Fe: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Albuquerque Wikitravel Website:http://wikitravel.org/en/Albuquerque Santa Fe Wikitravel Website: http://wikitravel.org/en/Santa_Fe,NM
R. Bruski - April 2007:
For great Mexican food, try either Sadie's (www.sadiessalsa.com) or Garduno's (www.gardunosrestaurants.com). There is a Garduno's in the airport but if you can, go to one of the restaurants.
Dale the Ron - July 2007:
ABQ is nice for a day trip if you want to gamble. Sandia Resort & Casino (Website: http://www.sandiacasino.com/ ) to the north of town is within 10 miles of the center of town. It is bigger than anything we have in CO. Sandia does have Craps & Roulette and other table games. If you have not lost all your money, you can take a ride on the Sky Tram a few miles to the east, you get to see the same view of the area that the pilots see when they are on approach to land. I will disagree with R. Bruski about Garduno's, for airport food it was good, but great Mexican food it was not. However I grew up in North Denver not a ...ski town.
My son and I visited ABQ for a day trip, and we had a great time. You can also make it a nice two-day visit. The airport (Website: http://www.cabq.gov/airport ) is very clean and nice. You don't need to rent a car if you want to visit the University of New Mexico campus or "Old Town". To get to "Old Town" from the Airport, take the #50 bus to Central Avenue. At the Airport the #50 is located on the lower level at the west end of the shuttle island, look for the Bus Stop Signs. The fare is $1.00. Ask the driver for a transfer pass when you get to Central Avenue; this prevents you from paying for both bus rides. You'll walk across the street and take the #66 west on Central to Rio Grande Blvd. Show the driver your transfer pass to ride on the #66 bus. You get off at Rio Grande Blvd. and walk north and east about two blocks to "Old Town". Here's a website for Old Town ABQ: http://www.albuquerqueoldtown.com/
We walked around, ate, and visited a couple of museums like the Rattlesnake Museum (Website: http://www.rattlesnakes.com/ ). To return to the Airport, simply do the reverse trip on the bus: Rte # 66 to Yale Avenue. South on Yale on the #50 bus. At the corner of Central and Yale is the University of New Mexico campus. You can take a side trip and walk around on the campus, visit the bookstore, and people watch. I've attached a website for a campus map: http://www.unm.edu/campusmap/
We just returned from a 3 night stay in Santa Fe. We stayed in a cute little adobe B&B, Pueblo Bonito (Website: http://www.pueblobonitoinn.com/?gclid=CMS-toy-lLsCFRaTfgodZDcAXw ). Very nice accommodations. All the rooms are quaint and have a small kitchen, which is great to bring home left overs or store your beer and wine. They have a nice continental breakfast and hard boiled eggs if you need protein in the morning like I do but not cooked breakfast. It is a 10-15 minute walk to the plaza. We spent 2 solid days wandering the plaza and Canyon road. We had a car but we basically walked most everywhere. The plaza is so amazing and fun. The galleries on Canyon road were fabulous. We also went to the Georgia O'Keefe museum (if you are a Denver museum member and have a membership that is reciprocal they will honor it.) O'Keefe Museum Website: http://www.okeeffemuseum.org/ . The Andrew Smith Gallery of Photography (Website: http://www.andrewsmithgallery.com/ ) was fantastic. They had an Ansell Adams exhibit that was great! Good restaurants that we went to were: The Blue Corn Café and Brewery (Website: http://www.bluecorncafe.com/ ), Pasqual's (Website: http://pasquals.com/The_Menus/index.html ), Jambo Café (Website: http://www.jambocafe.net/our-menu/ ) where you do need a car, and Caribbean (Website: http://www.yelp.com/biz/caribbean-kitchen-santa-fe ) which was our favorite on a recommendation from Miki Dubois. We also went to Tia Sophia's (Website: http://www.yelp.com/biz/tia-sophias-santa-fe ) for breakfast and it was good. I have it on good authority (Miki) that the Kakawa Chocolate House (Website: http://www.kakawachocolates.com/ ) is a great place for Mexican hot chocolate. We never made it but we tried twice: 20 minutes too early and then 20 minutes too late. Enjoy Santa Fe!
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Albuquerque Wikitravel Website: http://wikitravel.org/en/Albuquerque
Santa Fe Wikitravel Website: http://wikitravel.org/en/Santa_Fe,NM
R. Bruski - April 2007:
For great Mexican food, try either Sadie's (www.sadiessalsa.com) or Garduno's (www.gardunosrestaurants.com). There is a Garduno's in the airport but if you can, go to one of the restaurants.
Dale the Ron - July 2007:
ABQ is nice for a day trip if you want to gamble. Sandia Resort & Casino (Website: http://www.sandiacasino.com/ ) to the north of town is within 10 miles of the center of town. It is bigger than anything we have in CO. Sandia does have Craps & Roulette and other table games. If you have not lost all your money, you can take a ride on the Sky Tram a few miles to the east, you get to see the same view of the area that the pilots see when they are on approach to land. I will disagree with R. Bruski about Garduno's, for airport food it was good, but great Mexican food it was not. However I grew up in North Denver not a ...ski town.
Mike Summers - March 2008:
Here's a nice website for ABQ: http://www.cabq.gov/visiting.html
My son and I visited ABQ for a day trip, and we had a great time. You can also make it a nice two-day visit. The airport (Website:
http://www.cabq.gov/airport ) is very clean and nice. You don't need to rent a car if you want to visit the University of New Mexico campus or "Old Town". To get to "Old Town" from the Airport, take the #50 bus to Central Avenue. At the Airport the #50 is located on the lower level at the west end of the shuttle island, look for the Bus Stop Signs. The fare is $1.00. Ask the driver for a transfer pass when you get to Central Avenue; this prevents you from paying for both bus rides. You'll walk across the street and take the #66 west on Central to Rio Grande Blvd. Show the driver your transfer pass to ride on the #66 bus. You get off at Rio Grande Blvd. and walk north and east about two blocks to "Old Town". Here's a website for Old Town ABQ: http://www.albuquerqueoldtown.com/
We walked around, ate, and visited a couple of museums like the Rattlesnake Museum (Website: http://www.rattlesnakes.com/ ). To return to the Airport, simply do the reverse trip on the bus: Rte # 66 to Yale Avenue. South on Yale on the #50 bus. At the corner of Central and Yale is the University of New Mexico campus. You can take a side trip and walk around on the campus, visit the bookstore, and people watch. I've attached a website for a campus map: http://www.unm.edu/campusmap/
Here's a website for the bus schedules: http://www.cabq.gov/transit/routes-and-schedules
It was chilly (40's) in Denver when we left, but 65 in ABQ on our day trip. The flight is only an hour and fifteen minutes.
Get away and enjoy!
Mike Summers
Mike Summers - October 2011:
I decided to do a day trip to Santa Fe by way of Albuquerque. It had been a few years since I had been to Santa Fe. I discovered that this is a great one-day, two-day (even better), or three-day trip (best). If you rent a car (ideal for a one-day trip), Santa Fe is a one hour drive north of ABQ by way of Interstate 25. You can also take the Rail Runner train that connects both cities. Here's the website for the Rail Runner (Website: http://www.nmrailrunner.com/ ). Without renting a car, you can take the Route 250 Bus from the ABQ airport to the downtown Albuquerque train station (Website: http://www.cabq.gov/transit/documents/pdfs/rt_250_wkd_8-27-2011.pdf ). Currently, a one way ticket is $7.00 one way from ABQ to Santa Fe downtown. Because of the schedule, you can only use the train if you're planning a two-day or more trip. Otherwise, you should rent a car. As far as Santa Fe, here's some websites: http://travel.yahoo.com/p-travelguide-191501977-santa_fe_vacations-i or http://santafe.org/ or http://visitsantafe.com/ . I enjoyed eating at La Casa Sena (Website:
http://www.lacasasena.com/main_dining.html ) or Tiny's (Website: http://www.visitsantafe.com/navigate.cfm?nav=businesspage.cfm_businessid=1150 ) or the San Francisco Bar and Grill (Website: http://www.sanfranbargrill.com/ ). I also visited the Santa Fe Brewing Company which is on Interstate 25 and Highway 14 (Website: http://www.santafebrewing.com/about_us ). They don't serve food there, but the beer is tasty. I would also recommend the Blue Corn Cafe and Brewery (Website: http://bluecorncafe.com/ ). There's lots to do in Santa Fe, and Taos is only a few miles northeast of the city (websites: http://taoswebb.com/ or http://taos.org/ or
http://travel.yahoo.com/p-travelguide-191501978-taos_vacations-i ).
Get out and enjoy it!
Mike Summers
Claudia Courtney - December 2013:
We just returned from a 3 night stay in Santa Fe. We stayed in a cute little adobe B&B, Pueblo Bonito (Website:
http://www.pueblobonitoinn.com/?gclid=CMS-toy-lLsCFRaTfgodZDcAXw ). Very nice accommodations. All the rooms are quaint and have a small kitchen, which is great to bring home left overs or store your beer and wine. They have a nice continental breakfast and hard boiled eggs if you need protein in the morning like I do but not cooked breakfast. It is a 10-15 minute walk to the plaza. We spent 2 solid days wandering the plaza and Canyon road. We had a car but we basically walked most everywhere. The plaza is so amazing and fun. The galleries on Canyon road were fabulous. We also went to the Georgia O'Keefe museum (if you are a Denver museum member and have a membership that is reciprocal they will honor it.) O'Keefe Museum Website:
http://www.okeeffemuseum.org/ . The Andrew Smith Gallery of Photography (Website: http://www.andrewsmithgallery.com/ ) was fantastic. They had an Ansell Adams exhibit that was great! Good restaurants that we went to were: The Blue Corn Café and Brewery (Website: http://www.bluecorncafe.com/ ), Pasqual's (Website: http://pasquals.com/The_Menus/index.html ), Jambo Café (Website: http://www.jambocafe.net/our-menu/ ) where you do need a car, and Caribbean (Website:
http://www.yelp.com/biz/caribbean-kitchen-santa-fe ) which was our favorite on a recommendation from Miki Dubois. We also went to Tia Sophia's (Website: http://www.yelp.com/biz/tia-sophias-santa-fe ) for breakfast and it was good. I have it on good authority (Miki) that the Kakawa Chocolate House (Website: http://www.kakawachocolates.com/ ) is a great place for Mexican hot chocolate. We never made it but we tried twice: 20 minutes too early and then 20 minutes too late. Enjoy Santa Fe!
Claudia Courtney